Snow, cold at vacant site on Leonard Place challenge Albany firefighters

ALBANY — Fire engulfed a vacant house on a side street off Albany's Delaware Avenue Saturday morning.

The fire at 15 Leonard Place started around 7 a.m., but Albany firefighters were kept at bay to fight the blaze from the outside for hours because of concerns about the structural soundness of the house, Deputy Chief Joseph Toomey said.

Fighting the fire, which "progressed quickly," was especially difficult because of the heavy snow and freezing temperatures, he said.

Officials were still trying to determine late Saturday afternoon if there were any people inside the vacant property, which one neighbor said is a hotspot for squatters and police activity. One man that fire officials had thought was inside later returned to the scene, officials said, though they said the wreckage would need to be sifted through before they could say definitively if anyone else was inside. Officials said they did not suspect any foul play.

Leonard Place runs parallel to Hackett Middle School and dead ends behind Stratton VA Medical Center. The property that caught fire is on the end of the street, and has a second vacant house next door. Both vacant properties were marked with red placards with white X-es indicating they were derelict and possibly structurally unsound.

For five years Jim Hammond has lived three houses down from the house that caught fire. He said he made one of the first calls to the fire department about the blaze.